Obama welcomes signs of progress

10/14/13 1:32 PM EDT

President Obama welcomed signs of progress coming from the Senate on Monday, sounding an optimistic note as he took a brief trip off the White House grounds ahead of a meeting with congressional leaders to discuss efforts to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.

"There's been some progress on the Senate side, with Republicans recognizing it's not tenable, it's not smart, it's not good for the American people to let America default," Obama said while visiting Martha's Table, a food kitchen near the White House. "There's some recognizing we can't bridge all the differences at once."

Obama was optimistic, but he stopped short of celebrating the potential deal. "Until the details are done, until these folks are back to work ... I'm going to be continuing to push Congress as hard as I can," he said, addressing a crowd that included furloughed government workers volunteering at the kitchen. "We'll see this afternoon whether this progress is real."

Congressional leaders are set to meet with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House at 3 p.m. "I am going to once again urge them to open the government and make sure that the United States government is paying its bills," the president said. "This shutdown is completely unnecessary."

While "there are going to be differences between the parties" and "there are going to be differences in terms of budget priorities," Obama added, "we don't need to inflict pain on the American people, or risk the possibility of America's full faith and credit being damaged just because one side is not getting its way."

The president also offered a warning of what could happen if there is no deal by the end of the week.

“This week if we don’t start making some real progress, both the House and the Senate and if Republicans aren’t willing to set aside their partisan concerns in order to do what’s right for the country, we stand a good chance of defaulting and defaulting could have a potentially have a devastating affect on our economy.”